Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to brewing apparatus and methods and, in particular, to such apparatus which brew beverage directly into relatively large, heavy dispenser urns mountable on serving carts.
Description of the related art including information disclosed under 37 C.F.R. 1.97-1.99
For large gatherings of people, such as conventions, large banquets, etc., there is a need for huge volume coffee production systems. These known systems produce six gallons of coffee at a time in six gallon removable urns and can also store up to two hundred forty gallons of coffee in one or more 60 gallon holding tanks to which the freshly brewed coffee is selectively automatically transferred. The removable urns are kept in hot water filled liners in which the water is kept hot by means of an electrical, gas or other heating element. Likewise, the storage, or holding tanks, have liners in which are circulated the heated water to keep stored coffee hot.
When coffee is taken from a holding tank, at rates on the order of ten gallons per minute, the transportable dispensers supported on wheeled carts which are moved into position beneath holding tank dispenser valves, filled and then wheeled away without the need for lifting the fully loaded transportable dispensers.
However, when holding tanks are not provided there is no dispensing from the holding tanks, the coffee is brewed directly into six gallon urns at a rate of approximately two gallons per urn. These removable urns then have to be manually removed from the brewer and lifted into a cart to be wheeled to where the coffee is to be served. Due to the weight of the filled coffee urn, the need to both slide and lift the urn and the hotness of the coffee, manually transferring the urn from the brewer to the removable dispenser on the cart can be both physically challenging and dangerous due to possible scalding spillage.
These urns, when filled, are quite heavy (approximately ninety lbs.). These removable urns must be slid out from beneath the brewer on a fixed shelf, or urn platform, upon which they rest during the brewing cycle. This requires the server to grab the dispenser urn from the front to pull the urn sufficiently out from under the brewer to grab handles on opposite sides while an edge rests only partially and thus, precariously on the urn platform. The server must then bend over and manually lift the urn free and away from the edge of the urn platform and into the receptacle on the transportable cart.